Search results for "Representative elementary volume"
showing 8 items of 8 documents
Micro-Meso Scale Model of Electrospun Poly (Ester Urethane) Urea Scaffolds
2009
Soft tissue engineering applications require accurate descriptions of native and engineered tissue microstructure and their contributions to global mechanical behavior [1–6]. Moreover, micro scale based mechanical models can be used to: (1) guide tissue engineering scaffold design, (2) provide a better understanding of cellular mechanical and metabolic response to local micro-structural deformations, and (3) investigate structural changes as a function of deformation across multiple scales. We present a novel approach to automatically collect micro-architectural data (fibers overlaps, fiber connectivity, and fiber orientation) from SEM images of electrospun poly (ester urethane) urea (PEUU)…
Modelling Rainfall-induced Shallow Landslides at Different Scales Using SLIP - Part II
2016
Abstract This paper (Part II) is companion of another one published in this Conference (Part I). Both the papers describe the approach followed in the application of the SLIP model at different scales to foresee the triggering mechanism of rainfall-induced shallow landslides. In particular, this paper (Part II) focuses on the modeling at medium and large scale (regional and national level). The possibility of using the same means to model the phenomenon from the scale of the representative elementary volume (i.e. flume laboratory tests) to the medium and large scale (hundreds or thousands square kilometers wide areas) allowed from the one hand to strengthen the model assumptions and on the …
Quantifiable analysis of the failure of advanced carbon fibre composite structures leading to improved safety factors
2022
Abstract The increasing use of advanced composite materials means that they must now be considered as major materials for a wide variety of structures some of which will be in service for decades. There is therefore an important need to be able to quantify damage accumulation leading to failure in these materials particularly as they are often used in extreme situations for which failure must be avoided. This review shows how damage accumulation in many major composite structures is dominated by fibre failure but that the viscoelastic nature of the matrix induces time effects including delayed failure. It is shown that damage accumulation can be quantitatively modelled using a multi-scale a…
Coupled Multi-Field Continuum Methods for Porous Media Fracture
2015
The focus of the present contribution is on the numerical modelling of hydraulic fracture in fluid-saturated heterogeneous materials, which can be carried out on a macroscopic scale using extended continuum porous media theories. This accounts for the crack nucleation and propagation, deformation of the solid matrix and change in the flow of the interstitial fluid. In particular, fluid-saturated porous materials basically represent volumetrically interacting solid-fluid aggregates, which are modelled using the Theory of Porous Media. The hydraulic- or tension-induced fracture occurs in the solid matrix and is simulated using a diffusive phase-field modelling approach. This way of fracture t…
Micromechanical modeling of MXene-polymer composites
2020
Polymer composites are considered among the most promising materials for functional and structural applications. Improvement of mechanical properties of polymer composites using nanomaterials has generated much interest in recent years. This study aimed to predict the tensile strength and determine the damage mechanism of MXene-polyvinyl alcohol and MXene-epoxy composites. All parameters such as particle size, mechanical properties and interface layer strength were calibrated by finite element modeling with respect to experimental results. The influence of aspect ratio, volume fraction and MXene flake alignment on final mechanical properties of representative volume element models were inve…
Fibre break failure processes in unidirectional composites: evaluation of critical damage states
2016
Earlier work which successfully modelled the kinetics of fibre breakage in unidirectional composites under monotonic tensile loading has been extended to quantify the kinetics of fibre failure during both monotonic and sustained tensile loading. In both cases, failure was seen to occur when a critical density of large clusters (more than 16 fibres are broken within the representative volume element) of fibre breaks developed. However, in monotonic loading failure occurred very quickly after the first development of these large clusters, whereas under sustained loading the composite could accommodate greater levels of large clusters because of the lower applied load. This article is part of …
Micro-cracking of brittle polycrystalline materials with initial damage
2016
In this paper, the effect of pre-existing damage on brittle micro-cracking of polycrystalline materials is explored. The behaviour of single and multiple cracks randomly distributed within a grain scale polycrystalline aggregate is investigated using a recently developed grain boundary 3D computational framework. Each grain is modelled as a single crystal anisotropic domain. Opening, sliding and/or contact at grain boundaries are modelled using nonlinear cohesive-frictional laws. The polycrystalline micro-morphologies are generated using Voronoi tessellation algorithms in combination with a regularisation scheme to avoid the presence of unnecessary small geometrical entities (edges and face…
Numerical simulations and experimental measurements of the stress intensity factor in perforated plates
2008
A numerical procedure, which combines two hybrid finite element formulations, was developed to analyse the stress intensity factors in cracked perforated plates with a periodic distribution of holes and square representative volume elements. The accuracy of the method in predicting the stress intensity factor was verified by a comparison with experimental measurements, carried out by a photoelasticity method, and by commercial finite element software. Several simulations were executed by varying both the crack length and the hole diameters, and the effects of the holes on the stress intensity factor are illustrated. The method shows high accuracy and efficiency, as small differences were ob…